“It’s nice to be canonized without the inconvenience of dying,” the archbishop said, adding, “Pardon me for sitting, but I’m usually in bed by this time.”

The cardinal, who served as head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications for more than 23 years, first worked at The Catholic Standard and Times in Philadelphia in the 1960s and served as its editor 1970-84, when he was called to the Vatican. He told the gathering he had been involved in the CPA for 51 of its 100 years.

“I’m a relic,” he quipped.

The cardinal interspersed his prepared remarks with anecdotes from his career, sending Catholic communicators from the U.S., Canada, South Africa and even Australia into fits of laughter. But between the one-liners and tales of near-disasters on live radio and cafeteria duty for 800 high-school boys, the cardinal said he believed “the Catholic press continues to have a very important role to play in the work of the church in North America today.”

“Like the crucifix above the bed in every Catholic home, a Catholic publication in the living room or the family room is a continuing reminder of our identity as Catholics,” he said.

He added that “the Catholic press continues to have an important role in the work of information, formation, inspiration and continuing Catholic education.”